Stronger
by Runaway Wordette
Summary: He looked innocent when he slept. You would never imagine what he had done. With that I stood and walked out the door without a second glance back. He hadn't changed. He would hate me just as much as he did when he woke up as he did when I was a genin. Well now, I was an ANBU captain, and I didn't give a damn.


**Heller! Here's my little oneshot. I like this quite a bit. I'm rather proud. I hope you enjoy it as well! Who doesn't love a kick ass Sakura? Huh? **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did why would I write fanfic?**

**Hope you like! If you wanna make my day, review!**

* * *

I stretched and opened my eyes reluctantly. The closed curtains let in no light and the white walls looked painfully bare, covered in shadows. I sat up and swung my leg over the side of my bed. I touched my hand to my face and it felt gritty with tear residue.

I gritted my teeth and watched my hand fall to my lap, fisted tight. I am sick of this. I am sick of being weak. I am sick of _hurting_. Today would be different. I wouldn't walk around with tear-filled eyes. I would smile. I would be a shinobi. Not a crybaby.

Today, it will start. Today, I will become stronger.

* * *

I sat in my office and filled out reports. I had single handedly healed an entire squad of ANBU without shaking hands or stutters. A small smile lit my face. Tsunande said I had now become one of the best mednin in the entire hospital after only a year of training.

I froze and looked at my radio as slow song began to drift into the air. It was a song about a girl with a broken heart. A song about a girl whose dreams had been crushed. I listened to it for a moment, and a oh so familiar face drifted across my vision. I closed my eyes for a moment and when I opened them, my hand had pulled the plug for the radio out of the wall. I smiled at it in approval and leaned back in my chair.

I reached over to the phone on my desk and dialed a now familiar number.

"Hey, Tennie? Can I train with you guys today?"

"Sure Saks. You know, when Lee goes to go his push-ups or five billion laps of pain, you don't have to do them too."

"I know, but they've been building muscle. How else am I supposed to finally kick Neji's ass?"

Tenten chuckled. "I learned the hard way when you kicked _my_ sorry ass. See you in an hour?"

I smiled and replied, "See you then."

I hung up the phone and smiled at it for a minute. Then, I stood and shrugged on my lab coat. I could treat a bunch of patients in an hour.

* * *

I stared at the picture and bit my lip. I was so sick of it. I had always kept that small hope, burning in my heart. Maybe, just maybe, he would change. Maybe, just maybe, he would come home to us. To me. But that was a child's fantasy.

I looked at the gloved hand holding the picture. The gloves were worn and stained with gore and blood. They made me proud. I wasn't a little kid anymore. Running around and punching stuff, telling myself I was strong. No, now I _am_ strong. Strong enough to beat Naruto in a spar and nearly beat the living crap out of Kakashi.

I watched the gloved hands turn the picture of him sideways and clamp the edges. I heard the rip as I watched the glossy paper peal apart into jagged halves. Then fourths. Then eighths. I allowed myself a bitter smile and watched the tiny pieces flutter away from me on my seat on the bench.

Today, I finally let go.

* * *

I ran through the woods towards my target. Words replayed in my head from the conversation before I left.

"Sakura-chan, I'm making progress! He was different when I saw him this time!"

"He really was, Sakura. I saw it."

I merely shook my head and smiled. They were too hopeful. No matter how much my heart wanted to believe, I was stronger now. No matter how much it wanted to revert to its old ways, I wouldn't let it.

I burst into the clearing and immediately began to take out the twenty missing nin. S-ranks weren't so hard any more. Even going solo.

I dodged a fire jutsu and created my own water one. I compressed the twisting droplets into little circles till they were harder than rock. With that, I sent them through three heads.

I leapt and twisted out of the way of senbon and kunai. I channeled chakra into kunai before flicking them through various enemies' pressure points. One of them leapt forward and challenged me out right and I responded with lightning fast taijutsu.

I was as fast as Lee now. Even without his weights. It came from training with him and Team Gai for long periods of time. What I loved about Team Gai was that I wasn't coddled there. No matter how many times I actually beat Kakashi or Naruto when they were sparring full out, I would always be their little Sakura. They would always try to protect me in battles. I was damn sick of it.

I slammed a fist through the man's chest cavity and wrenched it out, going through katon seals. Fire erupted from my lips and I savored the warmth from sensation of flame flickering across them. It was time to stop zoning out and actually _try_. I was getting sick of playing around.

* * *

I grinned as I left my sensei's office. I, Sakura Haruno, am an ANBU captain. Pride flushed through me and I nodded to Shizune before I transported out of the Hokage tower to my favorite training grounds. I would tell Naruto later.

Maybe, I could train with Shikamaru and Ino while they're here…

I felt surprised to realize that when I had been promoted my thoughts hadn't even turned to him. I hadn't smirked and wondered what he would do if he saw me now. I had smiled with pride, knowing I could protect the village better. I wasn't getting stronger for him anymore. I was getting stronger for me. He deserved none of my time.

* * *

I sat by his bed and stared at him. His black hair fanned in contrast against the stark white hospital pillow and his chest rose and fell in soft breaths. His torso was heavily wrapped as were his arms, in thick bandaging and gauze.

He looked innocent when he slept. You would never imagine what he had done. With that I stood and walked out the door without a second glance back. He hadn't changed. He would hate just as much as he did when he woke up as he did when I was a genin. Well now, I was an ANBU captain, and I didn't give a damn.

I smiled because I wasn't in denial. Those words were the utter truth.

* * *

"Sakura."

I turned to see him walking towards me, across the training grounds. My heart wanted to flutter or beat quickly. But I wouldn't let it. No matter how weak it wanted to be, we were never going back to that place.

"Yes?" My voice wasn't impolite. It was the tone you used with a friendly acquaintance. That's all I ever was to him. Minus the friendly.

"Why…"

He faded off and his onyx eyes bored into mine. Something that might have been surprise flickered in them when I didn't blush and evenly met his gaze. He stared at me with furrowed brows as if thinking before continuing.

"The dobe misses you. He wants you to eat ramen with him."

I cocked my head and my long pink hair brushed against my back with the movement. "I haven't eaten ramen with him in months."

Sasuke seemed surprised at this but he quickly hid it. "Hn."

I let my gaze become hostile before saying in a sugary sweet voice, "If you came here to interrupt my training to ask me to eat ramen with Naruto, which _he_ quite well knows I have no time for, I suggest you leave, Uchiha-san."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes but ignored me. "What rank are you?"

I felt surprise flit across my face before replying, "Captain."

"Of what, the children's ward in the hospital?" He looked impatient and glared.

I narrowed my gaze and stepped close to him, staring him in the eyes. "_A.N.B.U. Captain."_

His eyes widened and I turned on my heel, walking away from him with feline grace I knew I possessed. He knew he just lost. And _I _won.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, I felt his gaze on me often. His eyes never failed to follow me with an examining look, as if trying to figure out a problem. I never failed to turn and glare at him and mouth the words, 'Get lost asshole.' His eyes would darken then and he would look confused for an instant before hiding it. The annoying staring I could take, but this was simply unacceptable.

I gazed at the carnage of the now deserted villa then pivoted sharply on my heel to glare at him. He had followed me silently on my mission, practically ignoring my existence and insults all the while. I would lose him, but somehow, he always managed to find me a few days later. I couldn't go back because it was imperative that this mission be completed very very soon. I bet he knew that too. Damn him.

When I engaged my target, the leader of an elite missing nin organization that Tsunande wanted to nip in the bud, he stared and watched from a tree. There were about forty guards. More than I expected, but it was no issue.

"What. Do. You. Think. You. Are. _Doing here?"_ The last bit hissed out of me and I punctuated each word with a step closer to him.

He smirked at me with a new glint in his eyes. He lifted his hand and brushed my cheek with the outside of his fingers.

"You're strong, _Sak-u-ra_."

I nearly froze but I refused to. Instead, I gave him a sugary smile that I knew didn't reach my ice cold eyes. He looked confused for an instant. Then I grabbed his hand, wrenched it away from my cheek and squeezed it till I felt bones snap and crack.

His eyes reflected utter shock as I dropped his hand like garbage and turned smartly on my heel to walk away.

"Sakura?"

I stopped and looked over my shoulder to see him smirking. "You, fascinate me," he murmured.

"Go to hell." If anything, his smirk grew wider before I leapt into the trees and headed back to Konoha.

I refused to let him play with my mind. I was better off without him.

* * *

I was done with letting him control me. He controlled me for _years_. I am never going back. Yet, sometimes my stomach would flutter when I walked into my office to find him already in it. Or when I sat down for dinner in a restaurant and he slid so naturally into the seat across from me, a smirk/ smile playing on the corners of his lips. How he knew when I went out for dinner, I didn't even want to know. He would always pay, too."Talk," he would say to me. I would glare and he would sigh and look at me with pleading eyes till I began to talk. I would talk about my day or missions or friends or a new ninjutsu I had picked up. He would watch with absolute interest, occasionally sharing a anecdote or giving a comment.

I would not let myself be weak. I would not let myself fall for him. I was done with it all.

* * *

I grinned as my hand seals worked, calling forth a fiery dragon from my lips. I. Could. Not. Wait. To see the priceless look on Kakashi's face the next time he decided to use his puny little water lizard.

"You're going to give the old man a heart attack."

I giggled and turned to see Naruto, looking at me admiringly.

"Who knew, Sakura-chan?"

"Hm?"

"Who knew you would become this strong. Kami, you don't even need me anymore."

I smiled softly at him and walked over to give him a big hug. "Day by day, I get a little bit stronger," I whispered.

I pulled back and he smiled wistfully at me. "Don't I know it."

I chuckled and grabbed his hand, dragging him towards Konoha.

"Wait, where are we going," he bellowed and I winced.

"Quiet!"

He mumbled something that sounded like 'Meanie with superhuman hearing…'

I turned and flashed him a bright smile. "We're going to get ramen."

His eyes grew wide and he grinned. "But you never get ramen with me anymore! You always say you're too busy with missions or training…"

My heart panged when he said that and I replied, "Well now, I promise we'll get ramen at least every three days unless I'm on a mission. Sound good?"

Naruto beamed and his smile practically glowed. "Can I bring the Teme, too?"

I smiled again, reminiscing on when we had sat in Ichiraku as genin. It would be just like old times. Except now, I could tie Sasuke and Naruto in spars and occasionally beat them. Hard work paid off.

"He has the hots for you, Sakura-chan!"

I turned back to glare at his cheeky grin.

"Shut up, dobe!" I cried, mocking Sasuke just for the fun of it.

Maybe I could be strong with my team…

* * *

Sasuke smiled at me. When he was around me, he smiled, rather than smirked. I… I kind of liked it.

"So, Sakura…"

"Hm," I asked looking away from the pretty forest scenery. He had asked me if I wanted to go on a walk, and I'd agreed. It was nighttime and crickets chirped their pretty melody.

He looked very smug as he reached in his pocket and pulled out a small box. He handed it to me and stopped walking. I stopped walking as well and looked down at the box in my slender fingers. I glanced up at him before looking back at the box. He was smiling that small smile that barely turned up the corners of his lips.

"It's not a bomb."

I rolled my eyes and slowly opened the box. Inside was a silver ring. It was slim and simple, but that's what made it beautiful. It wasn't a wedding ring, Sasuke was smarter than that.

I slowly pulled the ring out of its creamy holdings and I felt my mouth hang open at the pretty glimmer it gave off.

"Wow," I breathed.

"Read it." I glanced at Sasuke and his smile had become a little more pronounced.

I looked carefully the ring to see an engraving done in curling script.

_I'm not going to protect you. I'm going to fight with you._

My breath caught and I looked at him with wide eyes.

"I know you're sick of being protected and babied, but I never really minded doing it. So, I decided to compromise. I'll fight with you, instead of in front of you. Deal? And in return, you have to be mine."

I couldn't help the smile curling onto my lips as he took the ring and slid it onto my finger. "Deal. But, I refuse to be labeled yours."

Sasuke growled and pulled me into his arms. "We have quite awhile to argue about that."

"I have quite a punch reserved for those arguments."

"And now, I have quite a girlfriend to try and keep up with."

I grinned and nuzzled in closer to his chest. I'll be strong. Just not alone.


End file.
